Page 5 - AsianOil Week 05 2021
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AsianOil SOUTH ASIA AsianOil
Standard. This means they met eligibility cri- arranging and structuring the bundled offset
teria for the UN’s International Civil Aviation supply and retirement.
Organization’s Carbon Offsetting and Reduc- The carbon-neutral cargo delivery comes as
tion Scheme for International Aviation (COR- Occidental pursues one of the most ambitious
SIA), Occidental noted. The volume of offsets net-zero emissions strategies to be unveiled by a
applied against the cargo were sufficient to US oil company. The producer is targeting net-
cover the expected GHG emissions from the zero emissions classed as Scope 1 and 2 – those
entire lifecycle, including production, trans- from direct operations and indirect ones from its
port, storage, shipping, refining, subsequent power generation, heating and cooling require-
use and combustion, it added. ments – by 2040. By 2050, it aims to expand this
The transaction involved the bundling of to include Scope 3 emissions – those generated
carbon offsets with crude, with Macquarie by the end-use of its products by its customers.
India warns of global economic
fallout from soaring oil prices
POLICY THE Indian government sounded the alarm
this week over rebounding oil prices, saying
that a sustained rally could hurt the global
economic recovery.
Indian Minister of Petroleum and Natural
Gas Dharmendra Pradhan said stable oil prices
were key to economies being able to emerge
from the shadow of the coronavirus (COVID-
19) pandemic.
“Efforts at artificially distorting prices will
have a dampening effect on the fragile global
economic recovery that is underway,” Pradhan
told the S&P Global Platts South Asia Commod-
ities Virtual Forum on February 4.
“While we do not favour too low prices, we
also do not support high prices, which deny
energy access to millions in India,” he added.
Brent crude futures rose 1.74% to $58.46
per barrel February 3, while US West Texas
Intermediate (WTI) crude closed the day up
1.7% at $55.69 per barrel. Both benchmarks
reached highs during trading – $58.94 and
$56.33 respectively – that have not seen since 19 as a “contradiction” in talks with OPEC Sec-
the start of 2020. retary-General Mohammad Barkindo during
“If the world has to grow as a whole, there has the Atlantic Council. The minister said the pol-
to be a mutually supportive relationship between icy was “creating confusion for the consuming
producers and consumers. It is in the interests of countries”, before adding that OPEC’s decision
producers that oil-dependent economies keep might encourage India and other buyers to
growing steadily,” Pradhan said. embrace alternative energy sources more readily.
This is not the first time that India has com- Pradhan took another shot at Middle Eastern
plained about oil prices, with Pradhan decrying oil and gas producers this week, noting that India
Saudi Arabia’s decision to cut 1mn barrels per was striving to reduce its dependence on the
day (bpd) of crude production in February and region’s energy exports and that part of New Del-
March even as other members failed to plug the hi’s diversification strategy was to boost imports
gap. Pradhan described the move on January of US liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Week 05 04•February•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P5
